Barcode scanners are known to be effective tools in sales environments. Prior to barcode scanners, labels (e.g., numbers, letters, or a combination thereof) were placed upon individual products that identified such products. A compilation of the labels and their corresponding products was utilized by a salesperson to determine which items were being sold in order to accurately determine inventory. Upon arrival of new products to the sales establishment, a new compilation of labels and products required generation to effectively determine available inventory. For example, each new product was manually counted and typically entered into a table. A summation of the products was added to remaining products having substantially similar labels. Compiling inventory data included laboriously reviewing products and labels and creating a table that illustrated a number of products represented by particular labels. Such a system is time consuming and susceptible to human error, as labels can be easily misread or entered incorrectly into a table.
Barcode scanners were introduced to help mitigate some of the above deficiencies related to inventory maintenance. Each product was delivered with a barcode (e.g., a graphical object that encodes information as alternating dark and light portions) that identified a particular product. Via scanning the barcodes of products sold, products could automatically be deducted from inventory through utilization of a barcode scanner and a computing component. Furthermore, products brought to a particular store could be scanned and automatically added to a list of inventory. However, those barcode scanners were stationary due to their size. Thus double-checking inventory still required manually counting products in the sales area. Furthermore, entering products into an inventory database required moving products to an area with a barcode scanner.
Today, barcode scanners have a wide range of applications. For instance, examples of barcode scanners can be found in almost every department store, grocery store, and convenience store and are utilized in connection with selling products (e.g., price determination) and maintaining inventory. Furthermore, barcodes and barcode scanners are currently employed in factory and warehouse settings that utilize barcodes in connection with inventory and production control. Moreover, barcodes have been added to drivers' licenses and other identification cards, wherein the barcodes contain data relating to the person being identified (e.g., age, height, weight, birth date, . . . ). As technology has advanced, barcode scanners have become portable and include memory and a display. For example, a couple engaged to be married can go to a department store to generate a gift registry and simply be given a portable barcode scanner. Thereafter, the couple can scan items that they wish to be added to their registry, and a display within the barcode scanner will illustrate which item(s) they have added. Moreover, typical barcode scanners are equipped with memory that can store the registry list, which can later be transferred to a more permanent data store.
Wearable barcode scanners have also been developed, wherein a user that typically requires use of both hands can still utilize a barcode scanner. For example, the barcode scanner can be associated with a strap that wraps around a user's arm and secures such barcode scanner to the arm. Therefore, the user has ability to use both arms when the employment of the barcode scanner is not required. These wearable barcode scanners, however, are designed to be worn on a particular arm, as a keypad for entering data into the barcode scanner is associated with such scanner. However, if a user desires to utilize the scanner on the other arm, the keys and display will be approximately 180 degrees displaced from a desirable orientation. Furthermore, a user utilizing the keypad will have at least part of the display blocked by a hand when the barcode scanner is not on an arm that the scanner was particularly designed for. These barcode scanners are subject to errors in entering and/or reviewing data, as the keypad is not desirably oriented and a display can be partially blocked and/or not oriented desirably.
In view of at least the above, there exists a strong need in the art for a system and/or methodology that enables a keypad and display to be adjusted as desirably by a user.